Edinburgh thug branded Scotland's Worst Teenager' caught with blade outside city supermarket

A serial thug once branded ‘Scotland’s Worst Teenager’ has been jailed after he was caught with a knife outside an Edinburgh supermarket.

Gavin Inkster, 31, told shocked staff at the Sainsbury Local that he was armed with the four inch kitchen blade before fleeing the store in October last year.

Inkster - a convicted sex offender - was caught by police nearby and claimed he had downed alcohol and 40 Valium tablets before confronting the shop staff.

The yob became notorious when he was labelled ‘Scotland’s Worst Teenager’ following a string of offences which resulted in the first ever county-wide ASBO banning him from the whole of Midlothian.

Blade thug: Gavin Inkster

Inkster was also convicted of sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 13 in an alleyway in Musselburgh, East Lothian, in 2013.

He was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for two years and sentenced to 240 hours of unpaid work in the community.

Notorious Asbo yob cleared of battering man in street fight

Inkster pleaded guilty to knife possession and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner when he appeared via a video link at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.

He was in the dock in person today where Sheriff Alistair Noble was told Inkster also had two previous convictions for possessing an offensive weapon.

Lawyer Christopher McFarlane, defending, said his client had suffered “a downturn in his mental health” which had led to his latest offending.

He added that Inkster “accepted responsibility” for the knife offence and the labourer had employment open to him if he was to escape custody and serve a community sentence.

But after hearing the solicitor’s representation the sheriff sentenced Inkster to a 12 month jail term backdated to October.

READ MORE: Blade thug threatened to rob OAP as he withdrew cash from Haddington bank machine

Previously the court was told Inkster told the Sainsbury’s worker he was carrying a knife while reaching into his jacket pocket.

The worker didn’t see the knife but the court was told a colleague did.

Police were called and Inkster was traced carrying the kitchen knife near to the store at the city’s Causwayside on October 11.

The court heard Inkster was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment to self-inflicted knife injuries to his left arm.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.